Category Archives: Small Craft

Before making these craft available to the general public, Mystic Seaport would like to offer CAMM members the chance to acquire two Hickman Model 13 Sea Sleds that are surplus to the needs of the museum. Both boats are offered free of charge to a bona fide 501(c)(3) historical organization. The new owner will, however, be responsible for all costs associated with moving the boats.

The Polynesian voyaging canoe Hokule’a (“Star of Gladness” in Hawaiian) is circumnavigating the globe on a voyage whose goals are as impressive as they are important. Hokule’a was built by the Polynesian Voyaging Society in the 1970s, more than 600 years after any other voyaging canoe existed.

Designed and sailed using skills that very nearly went extinct, Hokule’a seeks the wisdom of all indigenous peoples in a search for ideas on dealing with global concerns applied on a global scale. Appealing particularly to students and their communities, Hokule’a brings attention to the message of Mālama Honua – “to care for the Earth” in Hawaiian.

Hokule’a will be welcomed into Hampton Roads waters by a flotilla on Friday, April 22. She will then stay docked in Newport News for the Earth Day Celebration on Saturday, April 23 at the James River Fishing Pier. The celebration will include tours of Hokule’a, educational activities for families, and chances to meet the crew members. On Sunday, April 24, Hokule’a will sail to Yorktown for a traditional welcoming ceremony with Native American tribes followed by an afternoon celebration and tours of Hokule’a.

Throughout the visit, Hokule’a’s crew will participate in multiple public programs. On Thursday, April 28, the crew will deliver a special lecture on Traditional Polynesian Wayfinding at the Museum. On Friday, April 29, the Museum will host Exploring the Seas Homeschool Day with the Polynesian Voyaging Society. There will also be special opportunities for Hampton Roads students to visit with the crew in their own classrooms.

Hokule’a will remain at Riverwalk Landing in Yorktown until May 8, when the canoe will continue sailing north, eventually visiting Washington, D.C., in time for a possible presidential declaration of National Oceans’ Month.

After a year and a half of dedicated effort, the Michigan Maritime Museum announces that the preservation of its 1939 wooden fish tug, the Evelyn S, was completed in the fall of 2015 through the good work of apprentices from the Great Lakes Boat Building School (GLBBS) and local contractors.

Grant funding for the project was awarded to the City of South Haven and the Michigan Maritime Museum (MMM) from the Michigan Office of the Great Lakes, Coastal Zone Management Program, Department of Environmental Quality. Lead financial contributions to match the grant were made by Cottage Home, Inc., owned and operated by MMM board member, Brian Bosgraaf. Preservation efforts included an initial marine survey conducted by Pat Mahon, director and lead instructor of the GLBBS. Rebuilding much of the tug’s deteriorated house was a major part of the preservation process undertaken by GLBBS apprentice Hans Wagner. Painting the entire boat and re exhibiting it in a newly landscaped section of the Museum’s campus finished the project.

To enhance the exhibit, a technology station was added at the base of the Evelyn S with a video that features the history of commercial fishing in South Haven, the process of moving and preserving the tug and some inside footage of its pilot house, Kalenberg engine and net lifter equipment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqIoqrG4u9Q&feature=youtu.be

During its October 8, 2015 meeting, the Council of American Maritime Museum (CAMM) Board approved the Lowell’s Boat Shop’s application for membership. They are delighted to welcome this maritime museum and educational facility to the CAMM community.

CAMM’s newest member is located in Amesbury, Massachusetts. Courtesy of Lowell’s Boat Shop

Located in Amesbury, Massachusetts on the North bank of the Merrimac River, Lowell’s Boat Shop was established in 1793. According to their website it is the “oldest continuously operating boat shop in America and is cited as the birthplace of the legendary fishing dory. . . . skilled craftsmen continue to build wooden boats in the Lowell tradition on the property purchased by founder Simeon Lowell in the 1700s. The oldest buildings remaining on the site are combined Greek revival structures that were built in the early 1860s: the downriver shop by Simeon’s grandson, Hiram Lowell, and the adjacent Morrill and Flanders boat shop that was moved to the site by Hiram’s son, Fred E. Lowell. In the 1940s, Ralph Lowell, the last of the Lowell family to own the business, further expanded the building at each end with the additions of the Office and the Paint Room.”

Designated a National Historic Landmark in in 1990, the Boat Shop has been run as a non-profit working museum since 1994. In January 2007, the Boat Shop was purchased by Lowell’s Maritime Foundation whose mission is “to preserve and perpetuate the art and craft of wooden boat building and promote the history of Lowell’s Boat Shop and its environs.” Lowell’s continues to build its full line of dories and skiffs for oar, sail or power. Innovative educational programs and exhibits are offered to the public throughout the year, and rowing is available seasonally.

The 2015 Museum Small Craft Association Meeting will be held Monday, October 5, and Tuesday, October 6, at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in Saint Michaels, Maryland. Museum small craft professionals and others who share an interest in small boat conservation and restoration, skills preservation, documentation, history, interpretation and research are invited.Presentations and discussions on a variety of small craft and museum related topics will include:

Other activities will include a Behind the Scenes Tour of the museum’s working boat yard and the curatorial areas, and a field trip to a local boatbuilder and the museum’s offsite boat storage area. Participants will be able to report on their institutions and organizations during Museum Reports. Monday evening will feature a cruise on the Miles River aboard the museum’s buyboat, Winnie Estelle, followed by dinner at the nearby Town Dock restaurant. Lunches will be provided on both days. There will also be time for informal discussions and to tour the museum

Registration

The registration fee is $85 and includes lunch both days, the Monday evening cruise on the Winnie Estelle, and dinner Monday at the Town Dock restaurant. Guests of meeting participants will be accommodated on the cruise on a space available basis, and may join the dinner Monday evening for $35. To register send the attached form with check made out to “Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum” to: CBMM, 213 North Talbot St, St Michaels, MD 21663 attn: Richard Scofield. For payment by credit card call Patti Miller, CBMM accountant, at 410-745-4954. Please register by September 25 if possible.

The museum has reserved a block of rooms for MSCA meeting participants from Sunday night through Tuesday night at the St Michaels Inn (formerly Best Western St Michaels) which is 2 miles from the museum. Rate is $89.99 / night. Phone number is 410-745-3333. Ask for a room in the Museum Small Craft Association block. St Michaels also has several other inns and bed & breakfast establishments, and accommodations are also available in Easton, approximately 12 miles from the museum. Camping on the museum grounds will not be available during the MSCA Meeting.

The 2015 Museum Small Craft Association annual meeting will be held Monday, October 5 and Tuesday, October 6 at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in Saint Michaels, Maryland. Museum small craft professionals and others who share an interest in small boat conservation and restoration, skills preservation, documentation, history, interpretation and research are invited to meet, learn about recent developments, exchange ideas, and talk with their peers. The MSCA meeting follows the Mid-Atlantic Small Craft Festival which will be held on Friday, October 2 through Sunday, October 4.

The meeting program will include presentations and discussions on a variety of small craft and museum related topics, opportunities for informal discussions, a dinner on Monday evening, and a visit to a local boatbuilder. Please let Richard Scofield rscofield@cbmm.org know if there is a topic you are interested in, or if you’d like to make a presentation or lead a discussion.

The museum has reserved a block of rooms for Sunday night through Tuesday night at the St Michaels Inn (formerly Best Western St Michaels) which is 2 miles from the museum. Rate is $89.99 / night. Phone number is 410-745-3333. Ask for a room in the Museum Small Craft Association block. St Michaels also has several other inns and bed & breakfast establishments, and accommodations are also available in Easton, approximately 12 miles from the museum. Camping on the museum grounds will not be available during the MSCA Meeting.

The MSCA meeting follows the Mid-Atlantic Small Craft Festival which will be held from the evening of Friday evening, October 2 through mid-day on Sunday, October 4. MASCF participants bring a wide variety of traditional boats. Activities include workshops, demonstrations, a sailing race which typically includes boats from small dinghies to a log canoe, row and paddling races for both adults and children, and model boat building for children with an opportunity to sail the models in a small pond in addition to general messing about in the boats. Registration for MASCF is separate from MSCA Meeting registration, and MASCF participants may camp on the museum grounds for MASCF only.

The Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum is located on 18 waterfront acres and occupies 35 buildings, 12 of which house exhibits open to the public.. The Museum offers exhibits, demonstrations, boat rides on the Miles River, and annual festivals that celebrate Chesapeake Bay culture, boats, seafood, and history. The Museum’s fleet of historic Chesapeake Bay watercraft is the largest in existence with 11 vessels on floating display at the Museum’s docks, and its small boat collection includes crabbing skiffs, workboats, and log canoes. The fleet is maintained in the public’s eye by master shipwrights and their apprentices.